Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Starship - Book review #2:

"The Color Of Night", by Madison Smartt Bell

﻿Alright, now this book I can almost confidently characterize as literature! The Color of Night, I believe, might be a very interesting and enjoyable read for many of the Manson Case blog followers out there...especially those who can't see ever granting parole to any of the murderesses because they believe that they are evil through and through...

Because Mae, who narrates the story, is indeed evil...at least she does lots of evil things...even years removed from being a member of The People which is the thinly disguised fictionalized version of the Manson Family. Imagine that Sadie escaped from the authorities during the Spahn Ranch raid and remained at large up until at least 2001, a couple of months after the 9/11 attacks happened. That's your protagonist, a black jack dealer working in a Nevada casino, living in a trailer park out in the desert, hunting coyotes (or not) until the early morning hours.

Mae discovers that Laurel, her special lover from the old days, is in NYC, seeing her in the footage of the attacks on the World Trade Center. Mae can't get enough of the violence of 9/11. She makes a loop tape and watches it over and over again...reveling in the deaths of so many as they are sprung out of the buildings as a result of the planes slamming into them.

The Author

And perhaps Mae can't help being so evil...after all it was her brother who repeatedly raped her when they were both young teenagers, and their parents, her mother especially, aren't exactly the greatest influences either. Sound familiar?

So If you choose to read this book, and I hope you will, perhaps it might enlighten a discussion or two about what we think about the survivors of the Manson Family...what they must be like today, and also whether we feel differently about those women who have been in prison for 40 years or so now.

17 comments:

Am I the only one who envisioned Katie immediately, after reading Starship's first paragragh???!!! LMAO

C'mon... admit it... everyone thought the same thing.

Starship-"might be a very interesting and enjoyable read for many of the Manson Case blog followers out there...especially those who can't see ever granting parole to any of the murderesses because they believe that they are evil through and through"...

One thing I need help with...I read the kindle version of the book, but is that a picture of Sharon Tate on the cover?

I thought it was, and I was a bit confused when I first began reading it because the Family is fictionalized as the People, names changed, etc...although most of the details remain close enough that there isn't a doubt as to its inspiration.

Hi Starship. I was wondering the same thing. Is that Sharon Tate on the cover?

As I haven't read the book, I can't see how this relates to the Family, except it sounds like Sadie's life. What were the details of living with the group known as the People? Were they eating garbage, having orgies, taking drugs, have a leader that beat the crap out of them?

It seems to me that the book has an interesting plot. What is evil?What is it that make some people evil?Is the violence in some way wrapped up in our culture?Are we defenceless against it. Charles Manson: "How much evil do you think it would take to create peace on earth?"But I must point out that the Tate/LaBianca murders can´t be explained by such simplifications.These people that commited the murders has not even today the slightest clue of why they did it.They are not any mutant killers. They are common people who happened to stumble upon something they couldn´t handle. Of course they are responsible for their deeds but that dosen´t explain why they did it.It aint exactly clear how Manson´s followers understood him. Perhaps, as he claimed, they took him more literally than he intended. Perhaps they heard things spoken through him which he never intended to say? Helter Skelter. Ouish, saw that both interpretations were possible. She told her friend Barbara Hoyt, “We all have to go through Helter Skelter. If we don’t do it in our heads, we will have to do it physically. If you don’t die in your head, you’ll die when it comes down.” It´s sometimes difficult to seperate literal and imaginary pictures from each other.

I did feel the quake a little bit, and yes, it was somewhat un-nerving.

I heard about the "West Memphis 3" a couple days ago, and Matt mentioned it on the blog.Admittedly, I don't know anything about that case... so, the news didn't reverberate with me at all.But evidently... it was VERY big news in some circles.

Katie8753Maybee they thought they killed for Charlie. But still we haven´t a motive.This case is more complicated than you can think of. This has to do with the unique personality that Manson is. He is on many different levels at the same time. Manson: "I´ve been to places that you don´t even know exist"Manson see the outside world as a chimera and the only reality there is is in the mind.If I find the words I will "try" to explain that in full detail at another time.

FRIENDS

"Charlie Manson is a five foot seven schizophrenic, who if it weren't for the murder of Sharon Tate, would never be known or discussed. And I'm not saying he isn't funny and entertaining. I'm saying he's a dime a dozen criminal-class punk, who had the good fortune of running into some middle class pseudo-revolutionary white girls." -- Tom G

"The simple and undeniable truth, is that Charlie and the gang were/are the biggest idiots, morons and imbeciles on the planet." -- Leary7

"Them fucking fruitcakes could not pour piss out of a boot, with the bottom written on it."--Harold True